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There's a sign in Mark Dantonio's office that best exemplifies the ever-smoldering passions regarding his feelings for Michigan.

It says: "Things that matter the most must never be at the mercy of things that matter the least."

It means never forget what's most important.

The Spartans have dominated the series recently, winning five of the past six meetings. They're contending for a national playoff berth. The Wolverines are trying to put out a fire in their football program, but they can't find a nearby extinguisher, in the opinion of one of the university's regents.

Michigan State is now the local model of organizational consistency and reliability while Michigan gags on choked pride.

But none of that matters to Dantonio when approaching Michigan Week.

"From my perspective, this is still the most important game on the schedule for me, personally and for our program," he said. "This still is a game that we have to point to and say: 'Hey, this goes beyond our schedule. This goes beyond the future. This is beyond what we're doing right now.' It's just the way it is."

Ohio State and Wisconsin have become the bigger games for the Spartans over the past four years in regard to establishing themselves as a legitimate conference force. But it's still Michigan that gets into Dantonio's blood like nobody else.

"There are things that just happen," he said, "things that happen over the course of time that, you know, just set you on edge."

The roles have reversed in alarmingly stark terms.

Michigan is the timid one now, frighteningly cautious in its words, uninterested in poking the already angry bear. The coaches and players said nothing Monday that was even remotely disrespectful. Not that providing any bulletin-board material was mandatory, but the Wolverines are mistakenly acting as though Saturday is simply another game.

And that speaks to the last remaining vestiges of their institutional arrogance.

Even now, Michigan can't bring itself to admit that, at this particular moment, the Michigan State game is a much bigger deal than the season finale with Ohio State.

Brady Hoke needs to go "all in" Saturday and prepare his players as though his Michigan coaching life depends on it. But that would first require elevating Michigan State to a level of national significance that might cause more harm to the bruised Michigan ego than another whipping at Spartan Stadium.

Does Michigan have another inspired effort reminiscent of last year's loss to the Buckeyes, when it was a two-point conversion shy of eliminating Ohio State from BCS championship contention — one week before Michigan State did so in the Big Ten championship game?

It's possible, but only if the Wolverines catch the Spartans looking ahead two weeks to their Nov. 8 showdown with Ohio State.

That's what the Buckeyes did last year in Ann Arbor, not wanting to show Dantonio too much on film in a Michigan game rendered meaningless in the divisional chase. And it nearly cost Ohio State.

That won't be an issue Saturday. Dantonio won't permit it.

That's not good news for Hoke.

"You have to look at things and say how big it is, and for me, this is big," Dantonio said. "Doesn't mean that it's big for every player. Doesn't mean that it's big for every staff member. I allow everybody to have their own point of view on things. But for me, it's big. I'm never going to come here and say on the first day that I was head coach at Michigan State, 'Oh, that's just another game,' because that wouldn't really be truthful. ... And if I were the next coach, I would assume the same."

There are much higher goals for the Spartans' program now than remaining the predominant football enterprise in the state. But Dantonio doesn't want anybody connected with the high expectations he has built to forget their roots, forged from a personal fire still burning strong.